Once we arrived by train into Bangkok, we attempted to book another overnight train to take us south to Phuket, but unfortunately all of the sleeper cabins were full for that night and the next. On to Plan B- taking an overnight bus to Phuket. So once we checked into our hostel (after a 50 minute walk with all of our bags on in 90 degree heat), much of our day was spent trying to get to the bus station and buying the right bus tickets. This task took us over 3 hours, multiple taxi rides, metro ride, rail link ride, and a lot of walking. Then, as it always seems to be in big cities, we walked around malls, crowded streets, and ended up at the movies to see "Silver Linings Playbook".
We hadn't been on an over nighter bus since South America, but we rode it out like old pros. We gave ourselves an extra day before Kristin's family arrived and went to check out Patong beach on Phuket Island. It is known as the "touristy, party" beach, and it definitely holds up to its name. We weren't that impressed and were happy to be moving on the next day.
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| Patong beach |
Then the fun began! We eventually made it to the Phuket airport that afternoon, after a frustrating 3 hours, and awaited the arrival of Kristin's parents, Don and Janis. They had been traveling for over 25 hours, but still managed to look excited and happy to see us :-). We hadn't seen them for over 8 months, and Kristin had been very anxious for this day. She was overtaken with happiness/ tears as soon as she saw them. Ahhh, to be reunited with her parents!
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| They're finally here...happy day! |
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| Don (Dad), Janis (Mom), and Kristin |
We headed out to Kamala beach where we planned to stay for the next 3 nights until Kristin's sister, Karen, arrived and we could move on. That evening we talked, talked, talked while we walked around town and the beach, and enjoyed a delicious dinner on the beach as well. We introduced Mom and Dad to Thailand's banana pancakes and they were fans, especially Mom and her choice of banana chocolate pancake. Once their bellies were full of Thai food, the jet lag started to take over and we had them in bed by 10 pm.
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| Dinner on the beach |
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| Mom's favorite banana pancake lady |
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| Their first banana pancakes |
We spent the next day starting their vacation off right by enjoying the beach and relaxing. Of course we had lunch on the beach consisting of Thai food and fruit shakes. Mom and Dad liked the fruit shakes, but Dad especially. I think he had at least one pineapple shake every day of the trip ;-). There was also some family frisbee time before dinner. After more Thai food for dinner, we had banana pancakes again. Mom became quite the pancake expert and had her favorite pancake lady by the end of it all.
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| Kamala beach |
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| Kamala beach |
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| Lunch on the beach |
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| Dad and his fruit shakes :-) |
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| Mom LOVED all the Thai food |
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| Longtail boats out on the water |
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| Mom and Kristin with their coconut shakes |
Karen arrived the next morning so Kristin and Mom went out to the airport to pick her up. She was also very perky for such a long trip!
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| Happy to see her sister! |
We made it back to Kamala and switched rooms that day to a really nice hotel. We took Karen to the beach for lunch, taught her our new card game we had been playing, and gave her some good Thai food. The rest of the afternoon we hung out and enjoyed the hotel pool, had more fruit shakes, went to the beach, got some sun, and enjoyed the sunset from our hotel balconies. It was so great hanging out and catching up with family in person since it had been so long. Karen was a rock star that day and despite arriving at 10am, she overcame the jet lag and made it until 9pm that night.
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| Crew at lunch on the beach |
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| Mom and Dad loving Thailand |
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| Nice digs, obviously courtesy of Mom and Dad |
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| Playing around in the pool |
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| Soaking up the sun in the pool |
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| Sisters! |
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| View from our balcony |
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| Another picture at dusk |
That day was Dad's birthday :-), so he got to choose where he wanted to go for dinner! His choice was an Australian BBQ place where he was able to get some ribs- his favorite! And of course we topped off his birthday with banana pancakes (because we had to show Karen what the fuss was all about).
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| Happy Birthday Dad!! He liked the ribs :-). |
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| ...and the banana pancakes |
After a delicious breakfast that was delivered to our room terrace the next morning, we packed up our bags and said good-bye to Kamala beach. It was a great start to their trip to Thailand. We took a mini-van to the pier to board a 3 hour ferry to take us to the next destination, Koh Lanta.
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